news 2022

Scientists at EPFL have overcome the scaling challenges of quantum optomechanical systems and realized the first superconducting circuit optomechanical graphene lattice. The precise control of micro-mechanical oscillators is fundamental to many contemporary technologies, from sensing and timing to radiofrequency filters in smartphones.

Antiferromagnets are suitable for transporting spin waves over long distances Smaller, faster, more powerful: The demands on microelectronic devices are high and are constantly increasing. However, if chips, processors and the like are based on electricity, there are limits to miniaturization. Physicists are therefore working on alternative ways of transporting information, such as about spin waves, also called magnons, for example.

Physicists at the University of Basel have experimentally demonstrated for the first time that there is a negative correlation between the two spins of an entangled pair of electrons from a superconductor. For their study, the researchers used spin filters made of nanomagnets and quantum dots, as they report in the scientific journal Nature.

Researchers at ETH have developed a technique to cool several nanoparticles simultaneously to temperatures of just a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. This new method can be used to study quantum effects of several nanoparticles and to build highly sensitive sensors. Over the past forty years, physicists have learned to cool increasingly large objects down to temperatures close to the absolute zero: atoms, molecules and, more recently, also nanoparticles consisting of billions of atoms.

A new and more efficient way of modelling and designing power electronic converters using artificial intelligence (AI) has been created by a team of experts from Cardiff University and the Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult. The method has reduced design times for technology by up to 78% compared to traditional approaches and was used to create a device with an efficiency of over 98%.

Researchers find new material with significant potential for electronics applications Diodes allow directed flows of current. Without them, modern electronics would be inconceivable. Until now, they had to be made out of two materials with different characteristics. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now discovered a material that makes it possible to create a diode with a simple change in temperature.

Scientists at EPFL have increased the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells ("Grätzel cells") beyond 15% in direct sunlight and 30% in ambient light conditions. Mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were invented in 1990s by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel, taking on the latter's name - the world-famous Grätzel cells.

Manipulating elusive waves like light, sound or electrons, in periodic structures or crystals, has something mysterious. In the leading physics journal Physical Review Letters, published by the American Physical Society, a team of researchers from the University of Twente now describes how any kind of wave, whether quantum or classical, is confined in any kind of crystal.

Cooling materials to extremely low temperatures is important for basic physics research as well as for technological applications. By improving a special refrigerator and a low-temperature thermometer, Basel scientists have now managed to cool an electric circuit on a chip down to 220 microkelvin - close to absolute zero.

MIT researchers demonstrate an intracellular antenna that's compatible with 3D biological systems and can operate wirelessly inside a living cell. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have designed a miniature antenna that can operate wirelessly inside of a living cell, opening up possibilities in medical diagnostics and treatment and other scientific processes because of the antenna's potential for monitoring and even directing cellular activity in real-time.

For building quantum computers, making use of both electronics and photonics - technology that works with light - on one and the same chip, is promising. Thanks to silicon technology that we know well from today's electronic devices, quantum devices could be better protected from influences from the outside world.

Sustainable electronic components can be made from wood with the help of a novel process that uses a laser to engrave electrically conductive structures on veneers. A research team at Empa and at ETH's Institute for Building Materials has developed a practical and versatile method for making wooden surfaces electrically conductive.

Breakthrough could divert wearable devices and other flexible electronics from landfill According to the United Nations, less than a quarter of all U.S. electronic waste gets recycled. In 2021 alone, global e-waste surged at 57.4 million tons , and only 17.4% of that was recycled.

Researchers at the Institute for Quantum Matter prove that mechanically manipulating a certain type of metal can change its magnetic properties, ushering in new applications for the rare and underutilized field of piezomagnetism A team of physicists at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Quantum Matter has discovered that they can control a metal's electromagnetic properties by manipulating it mechanically.

Throughout history, alchemists believed in the existence of the philosopher's stone: a substance that could turn cheap substances into precious gold. Now scientists from The University of Manchester, Tsinghua University in China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shown that graphene can be a kind of philosopher's stone, allowing gold extraction from waste containing only trace amounts of gold (down to billionth of a percent).

International research team led by Göttingen University controls interaction of charge carriers An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has detected novel quantum effects in high-precision studies of natural double-layer graphene and has interpreted them together with the University of Texas at Dallas using their theoretical work.

A new form of flexible photodetector could provide future robots with an electronic skin capable of 'seeing' light beyond the range of human vision. A team of engineers from the University of Glasgow are behind the breakthrough development, which involves a newly-developed method of printing microscale semiconductors made from gallium arsenide onto a flexible plastic surface.

Scientists turn century-old material into a thin film for next-gen memory and logic devices Electron microscope images show the precise atom-by-atom structure of a barium titanate (BaTiO3) thin film sandwiched between layers of strontium ruthenate (SrRuO3) metal to make a tiny capacitor. (Credit: Lane Martin/Berkeley Lab) - By Rachel Berkowitz The silicon-based computer chips that power our modern devices require vast amounts of energy to operate.

Scientists have built a compact waveguide amplifier by successfully incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic circuits. The device produces record output power compared to commercial fiber amplifiers, a first in the development of integrated photonics over the last decades. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are devices that can provide gain to the optical signal power in optical fibers, often used in long-distance communication fiber optic cables and fiber-based lasers.

A low-cost and easy-to-manufacture lighting technology can be made with light-emitting electrochemical cells. Such cells are thin-film electronic and ionic devices that generate light after a low voltage is applied. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Turin have now used extensive data analysis to create first-class electrochemical cells from copper complexes that emit blue and white light.